DRY CONDITIONS: Cecil Plains farmer Chris Hornick needs about 100mm of rain before he can plant his chickpea crop. It is in stark comparison to last year’s crops where he received a top price of $300 per tonne for his sorghum (pictured).Contributed

Farmer hoping for rain after a dry summer and autumn

CECIL Plains farmer Chris Hornick welcomed this week's wet weather, but the rain is only a small amount of what he really needs.

Mr Hornick had just 9mm of rain on Thursday night. He has had nine-and-half inches since January but said they would have usually had that amount of rain by the end of February.

"It would be one of the driest times, going back to 2006 during the major drought," Mr Hornick said.

"Normally we are wanting to plant chickpeas in May and June and at the moment we can't do that.

"We probably need anything up to 100mm or at least 60 or 70mm to plant at the moment."

Mr Hornick hopes to plant between 200 to 300ha of chickpeas depending on when the rain comes.

"I have planted up to mid July so I still have got a fair bit of time left," Mr Hornick said.

"We will still get reasonable yield in June but if it's in July we will be looking at lower yields."

The dry weather is in stark comparison to the hail storm that wiped out Mr Hornick's 250ha cotton crop in December. He has since planted corn which will hopefully be harvested next week.

Mr Hornick said last year every one of their crops was successful, including a top price of $300 per tonne for their sorghum.

He said he did take the El Nino and La Nina weather patterns into account when farming, but did not take it as "gospel".

"When we hear there is an El Nino coming we don't close up shop," Mr Hornick said.

"It is a bit of a calculated risk. Maybe you don't plant the whole acreage and spread your risk through a few different crops."

The Bureau of Meteorology said this week that the El Nino had ended as the tropical Pacific Ocean had returned to a neutral El Nino - Southern Oscillation state.

The bureau said international climate model outlooks indicated cooling in the tropical Pacific Ocean was likely to continue, with most models suggesting sea surface temperatures will reach La Nina thresholds during winter, from June to August.